Hinged closure prop



June 11, 1957 H. Q. RUCKER, sR 2,795,451

HINGED CLOSURE PROP Filed March 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VENTOR HQ}? u c/ce ham wig jwmm ATTORNEY HINGED CLOSURE PROP Henry Q. Rucker, Sr., Cleveland, Ohio Application March 18, 1955, Serial No. 495,170

Claims. (Cl. 292-306) This invention relates to a prop for hinged closures and which may be conveniently employed for propping a closure in diiferent open positions to prevent swinging movement of the closure back toward a closed position and which will readily retain itself in an inoperative position so as not to affect swinging movement of the closure back to aclosed position.

More particularly, it is an aim of the present invention to provide a closure prop having portions carried by the hinged closure and other parts thereof connected to a portion of the closure frame.

Afurther object of the invention is to providea closure prop. including a single manually adjustable part which may be readily adjusted manually for maintaining the closure against return movement to a closed position and in various open positions and which can be selectively positioned whereby swinging movement of the closure back to a closed position will notbe obstructed by the top.

p Various other objects and advantages of the invention will. hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating a presently preferred. embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure l; is afragmentary elevational. view of a part of a closure and. closure frame showing the propapplied thereto and in a normal position when the closure is closed;-

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1 and showing the prop in top plan;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 33 of Figure 1 and showing the closure held in an open position by the prop;

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 44 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view in detail, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 55 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 6-6 ofFigure 2;

Figure 7 is an enlarged cross sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 77 of Figure 2, and

Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view similar to a portion of Figure 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the novel prop in its entirety and comprising the invention is designated generally 10. To illustrate a preferred application and use of the prop 10, a portion of a closure 11 has been illustrated together with a part of the frame 12 thereof to which an inner edge 13 of the closure is swingably connected, as by a plurality of hinges, one of which is illustrated and designated generally 14 and is of a conventional leaf type. As the description proceeds it will become apparent that the prop is adapted States Patent 0 2,795,451 Patented. June 11, 1957 for use with numerous types of closures, 'but will be described in conjunction with a conventional door. Accordingly, the portion 11 can be assumed to be a part of a conventional door and the frame part 12 a part of the door jamb. The door 11 can be assembled to swing about a vertical axis of the hinge 14 and its inner edge 13 seats in a notch 15 of the jamb 12 in a closed position of the door, as best illustrated in Figure 2.

A bracket arm 16 has an enlarged base portion 17 which is disposed against the inner face of the jamb 12 and secured thereto by fastenings 18. The bracket arm 16 is disposed adjacent the notch 15 and accordingly is disposed near a side 19 of the door or closure 11, when said closure is in a closed position, as best illustrated in Figure 2. The arm 16 extends outwardly from the jamb 12, and has a bifurcated outer end 20 the slot of which is disposed at substantially a right angle to. the axis of the hinge 1-4;

An elongated wear strip 21 is secured to the inner face 19 of the closure 11 by suitable fastenings 22 and is disposed in substantially the same plane as the arm 16, as best seen inFigure 1. An elongated guide sleeve 23 is suitably secured, as best seen at 24 in Figure 7, to an elongated base plate 25. The base plate 25 is disposed against a part of the wear strip 21 which is located remote from the bracket arm 16 and extends lengthwise thereof and is secured thereto, by certain of the fastenings 22 which extend through the base plate 25 as well as through the wear strip 21. The guide sleeve .23 is provided with a flanged inner end 26.

A'rod 27 slidably fits in the sleeve 23 and extends from thefianged inner end26 thereof. The rod 27 has a slotted inner end 28 to receive a part of a connecting plate 29 which is secured therein, immovably relative to the rod 27 by a fastening 30. A rigid link member 31 has a'slotted end 32-which straddles another part of the plate 29, which constitutes an extension of the inner end of the rod 27, and is pivotally connected thereto by a pivot means 33, as best seen in Figure 1. The other end ofthe connecting link 31 loosely fits in the slot 20 of thearm 16 and is pivotally connected thereto by a pivot means 34. The axis of the pivot means 34 is disposed parallel to the axis of the hinge 14 and likewise maintains the axis of the pivot 33 parallel thereto.

A collar 35 is slidably mounted on the part of the rod 27 which extends from the flanged end of the sleeve 23 and is maintained in engagement with said rod portion by the flange 26 and by a portion of the plate 29 which extends laterally from the rod 27. The collar 35 has a projection 36 on the side thereof which faces toward the flange 26. The projection 36 is spaced from the opening 37 of the collar 35 which loosely engages around the rod 27, as best illustrated in Figure 8.

Assuming that the collar or retaining member 35 is disposed as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 adjacent the plate 29, when so disposed the prop 10 is inoperative and the door or closure 11 can be swung freely to and from a closed or open position, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, respectively. If it is desired to prop the closure 11 in an open position, it is only necessary to swing the closure to a desired open position and to then slide the retaining member or collar 35 along the rod 27 toward the flange 26 and until the lug 36 engages the flange 26. Since the lug 36 is spaced outwardly from the adjacent portion of the opening 37, a force exerted against the closure l l tending to swing it toward a closed position and which would normally cause the rod 27 to slide inwardly of the sleeve 23 will cause the collar or retaining member 35 to be canted relative to the rod 27 by engagement of the lug 36 with the flange 26. The retaining member 35 will thus be effectively brought into frictional gripping engagement with the rod 27 to prevent movement of the door toward a closed position. The

member 35 has sufficient frictional engagement with the rod 27 to normally move therewith and to retain any position in which it is placed relative to the rod, so that even though the closure 11 is swung to a further open position than its position of Figure 3, upon returning to its position of Figure 3,. the retainingmember 35 will be canted, as previously described, to prevent further inward movement of the rod 27 relative to the sleeve 23. The sleeve 23 is open at both ends so that no pressure or vacuum will be created therein and which would tend to resist swinging movement of the closure 11. The wear plate 21 is provided to be engaged by the end of the link 31 disposed adjacent thereto in the event that the rod 27 wobbles or flexes slightly when the closure 11 is in an open position and to avoid wear or damage to the closure surface 19. The prop can be mounted at any desired height on a vertically hinged closure, but is preferably mounted about three feet above floor level. While the prop 10 has been described in connection with a vertically hinged door or closurell, it will be readily apparent that the prop 10 is equally well adapted for use with horizontally hinged outwardly and upwardly swinging closures such as windows which are hinged at their upper edges and which swing upwardly to an open position, or trap doors or hatch covers which are disposed in substantially a horizontal plane in a closed position and which swing upwardly to an open position.

means and the innerend of said guide sleeve, and a lug forming a part of said retaining member and extending therefrom toward the guide sleeve and laterally spaced from an adjacent peripheral portion of said rod for engagement with the inner end of the guide sleeve as the rod is displaced inwardly of the sleeve, by swinging movement of the closure toward a closed position, for canting the retaining member relative to the axis of the rod and into gripping engagement with the rod to prevent further inward movement of the rod relative to the sleeve for propping the closure in an openposition.

2. A closure prop as in claim 1, said link means being 7 spaced from the inner end of the guide sleeve in a fully Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A closure prop comprising a bracket adapted to be secured to a closure frame and extending into the frame opening, a guide sleeve adapted to be immovably secured to one side of a closure which is swingably mounted in the frame, said guide sleeve having an inner end disposed adjacent to and spaced from said bracket, a rod slidably mounted in said guide sleeve having an inner end projecting from the inner end of the guide sleeve toward the bracket, pivotal link means connecting the inner end of said rod to the bracket, a retaining member slidably mounted on and carried by the rod between said link closed position of the closure to provide an exposed rod portion on which said retaining member may be disposed between and spaced from said link means and the guide sleeve, in a closed position of the closure, to permit unobstructed movement of the closure to and from fully open and fully closed positions.

3. A prop as in claim 1, said retaining member comprising a collar having an opening sized for relatively close fitting sliding engagement on the rod, and said lug being radially spaced outwardly from an adjacent portion of said opening.

4. A prop as in claim 1, the pivots connecting said link means to the bracket arm and rod being disposed substantially in alignment with one another and with the axis of the rod and guide sleeve in a fully closed position of said closure.

5. A prop as in claim 1, said link means including a plate fixed to and extending from the inner end of said rod, and a rigid link having one end pivotally connected to the plate and an opposite end pivotally connected to the bracket arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,325,417 Simpson et al. Dec. 16, 1919 1,734,170 Lefiert Nov. 5, 1929 1,936,365 Raymond Nov. 21, 1933 2,702,205 Germain Feb. 15, 1955 2,703,907 'Newell .i Mar. 15, 1955 

